£8m divorce victory for wife 'who had never worked and never been expected to work'

AN OIL technology tycoon from Aberdeenshire has been ordered to pay his ex-wife £8 million - after she successfully argued that her previous £5m settlement was not enough.

High performance sports car enthusiast Gareth Jones, 58, who lives at 16th century Arnage Castle in Ellon, was ordered to give his former wife Victoria, 44, a greater portion of the 32m he made by selling his business.

Sir Nicholas Wall, sitting with Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Wilson, agreed the previous settlement was too low given the scale of Mr Jones's fortune and "overall fairness" demanded that she receive 8m.

The couple, who are both divorcees with children from previous relationships, were married for nine and a half years in what was described in court as a 'troubled' marriage.

It was revealed in the appeal court that the former couple had run up legal fees of 1.7m during the legal battle.

Sir Nicholas Wall, the president of the High Court Family Division, said it was "unfortunate" that the law was dictated by big money cases "which bear no resemblance to the ordinary lives of most divorcing couples".

He said the sums of money and costs involved are beyond "the experience and even the contemplation of most people".

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Many of the arguments in court contrasted the expectations and life experience of Mr Jones and his wife.

Mr Jones, who began his career as a teenage apprentice in marine engineering arrived in Aberdeen in 1974 - at the height of the oil boom. In 1987 he set up his own company to manufacture a gas monitoring device he invented to be used by deep sea divers working offshore.

By contrast his wife Victoria came from an independently wealthy background. According to Mr Jones's barrister Lucy Stone, when the couple met she "owned her own substantial home, drove prestige motor vehicle, had a wardrobe of couture clothes and had cash savings".

She now lives in a 2.1m home in Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, which was bought by her mother.

Sir Nicholas Wall said: "Whether the wife has 5m or 8m, she will still be a very rich woman."

Lord Justice Wilson said it had "been a challenge" to him to work out why Mrs Jones was awarded 5m plus 400,000 towards her costs in the original settlement last year.

He said Mr Jones was the sole owner of Dominion Technology Gases which he sold during the divorce settlement hearing in May 2007 for 32m from which he received 25m.But, said the appeal judge, he had "dishonestly suppressed the existence of the negotiations" and had told the court the value of the company was 3m.

Lord Justice Wilson said Mr Justice Charles's finding that 15m of the assets from the sale of the company were not generated during the marriage was flawed. The original settlement ruled that 60 per cent of the company's value had been built up before the marriage. However the appeal judges said this judgment was unfair.

The appeal ruled that 9m of the assets belonged solely to Mr Jones because they were generated before the marriage in 1996, leaving 16m to be shared.

Martin Pointer QC, for Mrs Jones, attacked the original award as "plucked out the air", "arbitrary" and "far too low". He said it had been unfair to leave Mrs Jones with only 5m.

He said: "One party may have been the breadwinner, and one simply the homemaker", but told the court "the marriage was a partnership of equals" and the wealth generated while they were together should be shared equally.

Neither Mr Jones nor his wife are expected to contest the appeal.